"The right to freedom of conscience cannot be mediatized by the position it occupies within the system". This was stated on January 13 by Javier Ferrer Ortiz, Full Professor of Ecclesiastical Law of the State at the University of Zaragozain a lecture on "The freedom of conscience of politicians", organized by the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra on the occasion of the celebration of the feast of St. Raymond of Peñafort.

The speaker warned that "it is a transversal issue because its study does not belong exclusively to one subject, and allows reflection on basic aspects of the democratic system". It also pointed out that "freedom of conscience not only implies the right to freely form one's own conscience but also to act in accordance with it. It is one of the rights of rationality, one of the basic human rights. In this sense, he warned that "not recognizing freedom of conscience says very little in favor of the recognition of rights that certainly belong to all, and that, in the case of political parties, this issue affects internal democracy".

Javier Ferrer explained that the problem is aggravated when referring to political parties, and pointed out that "it is not up to the State or the party to decide when and how a moral duty exists, or when and how one should or should not follow one's own conscience". One of the main problems, he warned, is that "legislation is passed without taking into account the party's own electoral program and without taking into account the party's own instructions ".

Finally, the professor concluded by explaining that "it is necessary to deepen the freedom of conscience of politicians and the functioning of parties, especially parliamentary groups, since only with this deepening will it be possible to find reasonable solutions so that politicians are not forced to choose between disavowing their party or disavowing their conscience".